Pindar's old imperative "become what you are" is a perennial invitation to every man and woman to strive for excellence. It is about living in a way that is consistent with one's nature, which demands effort and sacrifice, as expressed in the Latin adage: "Ad astra per aspera" (to the stars by the hard way).

Ortega y Gasset said that the excellent man differs from the vulgar man in that the former demands much of himself, while the latter demands nothing of himself.

A first way of understanding excellence is to see it as an inner drive of the person that leads him or her to strive for the best in everything. It does not necessarily entail possessing a great capacity. A second way is the one attributed to people who have a high capacity that, together with effort, will allow them to excel in a specific specialization , in which they will be excellent professionals.

The Education that favors learning by aspiring to excellence does not entail marginalizing those with lesser abilities. This is the criterion of Javier Touron, founder and director of the first Spanish center for the educational care of high ability students. He says so in a article published in his blog, in which he invokes the principle of attention to diversity:

"Ensuring excellence is an immediate consequence of respect for diversity and the consideration that each person has not only a different pace, a different tempo, but also different skills and abilities (...) The educational system must achieve, through a Education as personalized as possible, the promotion of the optimum result possible for each person. In my opinion, this guarantees a serious commitment to the promotion of excellence, which will be different for each person, certainly, but which will cause such a transformation in schools that will prevent any egalitarianism".

In excellence, results count, but the most important thing is self-demand. "Our reward is found in the effort and not in the result. A total effort is a complete victory". (Mahatma Gandhi).

Along the same lines, Carlos Llano points out that excellence depends less on the objectives achieved than on the duties performed day by day and hour by hour. He proposes a profile of excellence from which I select several features: it is not found in things, but in people; it is not a state in which someone is, but a dynamic status derived from a continuous improvement; it does not reside in big things, but in many small things that belong to the usual work ; it consists, in final, in the continuous increase of the quality of my acts.

 For Professor Touron, "promote excellence means providing the necessary educational resources that allow each student to go as far, as fast, as wide and as deep as their skill allows them to go. This is to understand the principle of equal opportunity in its correct meaning".

 In the family it is feasible to create an environment that promotes the inner impulse towards self-improvement staff. Parents and teachers, together, should identify the qualities and talents of the children and motivate them to develop them continuously. In addition, they should be required to do their daily work well and thoroughly.

 It is essential that they fall in love with what Juan Ramón Jiménez called "el work gustoso", through the observation of good testimonies of love for work with eagerness to serve.

For Juan Ramón, in the "work gustoso" the effort finds its reward in the work achieved or, at least, in the satisfaction of having tried. He added that this work is not only proper to the artist, but to any person capable of putting enough attention and desire into his official document .

It will also help in the development of excellence to follow Ken Robinson's advice. In his book "The Element" he argues that "when we are passionate about what we do and also have the right preparation to do it well, we are in our Element, that wonderful state in which we work tirelessly and with great creativity. Moreover, we are able to find a professional outlet in situations that are theoretically impossible. That is why it is essential for each person to find his or her own Element.

The pursuit of excellence is a commitment that is renewed every day in the rapidly changing world in which we live. Fortunately, the challenges are never the same.